I Am the Hero's Immature Younger Brother

What is happening to me?

Ren thought blankly.

It felt as though the world was spinning round and round around him. As though a giant eye was looking down at him from somewhere impossibly far away.

Under that persistent gaze, even blinking once was difficult. His stomach churned and his head spun as though he had taken some strange medicine. It was the first time in his life he had ever experienced this kind of dizziness.

Even when he opened his mouth to call someone, not a single voice came out, and even parting his lips was difficult. In that silent space, where he could not even hear the sound of his own breathing, Ren had to endure that gaze.

It was not easy to measure time inside it.

At some point, the giant eye disappeared, and the sky was filled with starlight. Countless stars filled the pitch-black night sky. Ren’s eyes were filled with stars as well.

The world that had been spinning around Ren had stopped before he knew it. Ren quietly looked at the starlight.

“Haa.”

His blocked breath burst out, and Ren’s chest rose and fell heavily.

Where is this? What was I doing before I came here? Who... am I?

Where did the eye that was looking down at me earlier go? He seemed like he would know the answer.

Excuse me, is anyone there?

You were watching me earlier. Why were you watching?

Who are you? Who am I?

I can’t remember. Please tell me.

No answer came. But Ren was not disappointed.

Because the starlight in the night sky was so beautiful. It was an overwhelming sight, enough that nothing else mattered. The vast sky, too huge to fit within his vision, made Ren feel small. Even the problems Ren suffered from were no more than specks of dust beneath this sky and countless stars.

Small enough that it would not matter if he forgot them like this.

Ren flinched in surprise and trembled. Beneath his twitching fingertips, he felt rustling sand. The place where he lay seemed to be a desert of sand.

Was what I just thought really my own thought?

It sounded as though someone had whispered it right beside his ear. And the instant he heard that whisper, a heart that naturally followed it came into being. As though a deep trust toward the voice that had brushed his ear was already rooted inside him.

No, no.

But Ren’s heart was not like that.

Even if it was a problem as tiny as a speck of dust, to Ren, it was important.

Even if he was nothing in this world. The precious feelings Ren held onto were as important as that vast starlight.

Is that your answer?

A rumbling voice seemed to come from every direction.

He could feel that it was an existence he could not oppose. It seemed to be a being beyond that high sky. His body trembled with instinctive fear. Ren tightened his clenched fist even more. Rustling sand slipped between his fingers.

...Yes. That’s right. That’s my answer. So please tell me.

A faint laugh seemed to mix into the firm voice. Ren tried to pull himself clearly together, and only then did he realize.

That this place was a cradle.

When his ears, which had been muffled and blocked, opened, he heard the sound of a lullaby. This earth where Ren lay, and the starlight in that sky, were all singing for Ren. It was as though he could hear the song of the stars. Even the sand Ren was holding was singing.

The child had nothing to worry about and only needed to fall asleep, it sang.

Warmly and benevolently, without even taking a breath, for Ren’s sake.

It was so sweet and cozy that he truly wanted to fall asleep just like that.

Ah... so this was what a cradle was.

A very old longing whose reason he could not know filled him.

Would the touch of the parents he could not remember be like this? Would the warmest memory filling his chest, the one he could not bring to mind, be like this? Would the voice of the person he wanted to recall, the person he wanted to see most, be like this? It was a song that seemed to gather all of those things together.

Transparent tears slid down past his temples.

The sand grew wet where the tears soaked into the ground. The places where the tears fell stained in dots, making deep holes downward.

I want to sleep.

Ren murmured without realizing it.

That man said he would never let me die, but... could he take me out of this place? For now, I’m not dead. And if it’s a cradle like this, he might leave me as I am. If I’m in such a peaceful state, maybe accepting it really would be alright.

Was the human heart this weak? It felt like only moments ago he had resolved to reclaim what was precious, and yet he could waver this easily. Wouldn’t even a reed sway less than this? It was not that he wanted to let go of what was precious, but he did not think he could climb out of this peaceful cradle on his own.

Every time he blinked, the stars changed their positions and sang a new song for him. They seemed to be persuading Ren that they could sing for him as much as he wanted. That he should simply stay here comfortably, always listening to new songs.

Ren.

Ren flinched in surprise and jerked.

Did someone just call me?

Who are you?

Do you know me?

Ren pricked up his ears, but no matter how long he waited, his name was not called again.

At some point, the lullaby had stopped, and Ren had to face a silence as heavy and overwhelming as a giant. A silence far too vast for a human to face.

Speak your true answer.

As though lightning struck from every direction, Ren felt the air being violently torn apart. Unlike before, the voice seemed a little angry. As though rebuking Ren for hesitating after giving his answer.

Ren loosened the hand he had tightened. Sand slipped away with a soft rustle.

I just realized.

What?

What it is that I want...

What I want is not cradle-like happiness.

I want to be beside the people I like. Beside the things I cherish.

The air trembled. As though laughing at Ren.

Ren knew it too. Even if he somehow returned to the place where he had been, Ren might have to leave far away for another reason.

But physical distance was not important. Ren only wanted to leave his heart beside the precious people he held and wanted to remember. Because a heart could be close as much as it wanted. Like how Ren still longed for the warmest memory he could not remember. He only wanted to hold it inside himself like that and be able to recall it.

I want my name to be called.

Not by a warm lullaby, but by someone who knows me.

I want my name to be called.

A whisper scattered like a sigh has caught your feet.

The voice seemed to say he was foolish. But unlike before, it was a voice that had regained a little warmth.

I’m sorry.

Ren suddenly apologized. For some reason, he felt he had to apologize. Because he could feel that someone who had laid him in this cradle was caring for him. Some things were conveyed through the heart even without being spoken. Yes, like the countless powers of authority washing around his ears, unable to reach him, like the one-syllable name that had reached him like a miracle after tens of thousands of attempts.

Foolish human.

What a pitiful star.

At the end of the benevolent voice, the stars began to rotate.

The stars that had been moving slowly grew faster and faster. White lights spun round and round until it made him dizzy, chasing one another in an endless chain, and the song that had stopped came rushing from the end. Echoing light and songs, the things endlessly circling around Ren, and the moment that cluster of light poured down onto Ren without leaving anything out.

The small space beside his ear, where a path had been formed along the tear stains, instantly widened and collapsed, and Ren plummeted straight down and vomited blood.

“Keugh!”

As though he had leapt across tens of thousands of years, his body could not adapt and twisted.

“......!”

An indescribable sensation overturned his whole body. It painfully stirred him up, crushed down on him with a dull weight, and seemed to press his organs with a heavy anchor. An unpermitted hand thrust suddenly inside and rummaged through his head in chaos, shoving something in at random.

They were “orbs” with colorful forms.

The enormous amount of information made his head burn as though it would burst.

A lukewarm hand was placed on Ren’s back as he could not breathe properly and only stared wide-eyed. The familiar sensation spreading from his back spread through every part of Ren’s body. At last, under the sensation drawing out his breathing, Ren slowly exhaled.

Drip.

Blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth.

Just before losing consciousness, Ren saw the sunlight rippling at his feet and the cold eyes looking straight at him.

And that day, a new prophecy fell upon Sorse.

***

Cold water flowed into his mouth.

Ren gulped it down desperately. He kept failing to drink it properly and spilling it, which made him frantic.

I’m dying of thirst...

It barely touched the tip of his tongue, and he could not swallow the water.

Water, water...

Ah...

Something warm and soft touched his lips, and water entered.

At the hand patting his back as though soothing him, Ren was finally able to swallow the water.

Like that, he drank water for a while and rested for a moment, then drank water again and rested for a moment.

And when that repeated for some time.

Only then did Ren finally succeed in remembering what he had been doing.

Along with it, pain rang out as though someone had struck his head with something blunt.

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